D. T. Thompson: It’s not surprising reverend’s column touched a nerve

The Greeley Tribune is nothing if not perfunctory in providing a token liberal, Mike Littwin, to “balance” the several regular right wing reps.

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What a surprise that fundamentalists who staunchly believe their Sunday school stories come to the defense of literal interpretation of myth! Now, myth is not untruth, myth is message wrapped in narrative.

A liberal take on redemption’s message of rebirth may be simply to die to the past to be reborn in the eternity of each present moment. Those interested in the universality of myth might refer to the works of the late Joseph Campbell.

Mawson’s December article reverberated with me as I recalled the Father/Son Banquet attended in the ’60s where the speaker was the Air Force Academy Chaplain. I was shocked to hear him claim that whereas forgiveness is “God’s business,” it is our duty to sin as our part in the divine drama to help Him feel needed. Bizarre, right? It revealed the scheme of instilling guilt to cause shame leading to repentance followed by forgiveness as simply that: a way to control people, as well as a way for people to practice their greed knowing there is a fix for their indulgences.

There will likely always be those who believe the Earth is flat. It is their prerogative to dismiss science, but we do so at our own peril and that of the planet.